When we left off Marie and Werner were in the first stages of their development. The beginnings of their personalities were shining through, but nothing that would show what is to come. A bit like middle school, not really quite sure where you fit in, a growth period you could call it. Marie is just starting to feel doubt about her father's true whereabouts and Werner is hesitant to the direction in which the Reich will take him. We also gain a few more minor characters in this portion of the book which include Frederick, Volkheimer, and Von Rumpel. I am particularly interested to see how the Nazi flower that is Von Rumpel will blossom, he has the ferocity and grit that makes for a devious character combined with him being a Nazi makes for a lethal antagonist. However, characters are not the main discussion of today's tasting. I am here to delve into the stylistic components that truly make this a fantastical European masterpiece.
As I read this novel I find it to be unique in comparison to many other books I have read over the course of my life, many of which are fantasy based and solely for purpose of feeding my illogical imagination. The stylistic tidbit that jumps out at me at first is the constant back and forth between characters. Mostly the character shifts are between the two main characters, however, there are juicy tangents which show us details regarding the stories of minor characters such as Von Rumpel, Volkheimer, and Daniel (Marie's father). While this can make reading rather difficult, it makes for a much more exciting plot. In addition to changes in few points, the author makes the sections not in chronological order. For instance the novel starts out with Werner stuck in the bottom of a building, end section zero. Then the next section begins with the main characters childhoods. I would not call this jumping of time flashbacks because the character(s) are not thinking back in time. Another minor detail I noticed when looking at the way the chapters and points of view were organized was that the page lengths as well as the amount of time spent on a specific character was not symmetrical. Marie may have a riveting section of a page and a half rather Werner may drone on for pages at a time, not to say Werner's passages are not interesting.
In addition to shifting of characters throughout each chapter, the narrator remains the same. The book is told through third person omniscient, so we are able to see their thoughts and emotions just not directly through first person. This point of view is necessary because it allows for a plethora of characters to be developed, and as we know there are quite a few of those. As opposed to third person limited or first person which would only follow the emotions, perspective, and bias of one character. What we get with this POV is a distinct flavor from each character, favorites are picked, we hope for one character to "fade away" whereas the other flourish. With All The Light We Cannot See the POV allows for the two different characters, Werner and Marie, to be juxtaposed. We are able to feel the tactile nature of Werner's actions and thoughts, but also see a more emotional side with Marie. With the past section Werner was shown building a transceiver and constructing, things associated with tactility. Whereas Marie's sections were focused on the senses as with the snails in the underground cavern scene, "hundreds of tiny, squirming hydrualic feet beneath a horny, ridged top:a sea star" (pg. 260) It makes for an interesting contrast of personalities, but keeps out the bias that comes with single point of view or single story, cue the smug look as I have added in a note from previous learning throughout the year.
Now to throw out a completely new stylistic element. As a novel describing the lives of a French girl and German boy throughout World War II you would assume it would be mostly fact driven events, something that is realistic enough to conjure up. However, what I have noticed is the book feels more like science fiction than historical fiction. To be frank most historical fiction novels tend to bore me so it could be general bias that fuels my new found hypothesis. None the less I feel that it is important to note that the author attempts to make the stone, Sea of Flames, more interesting than any other war related notion of the book. It creates a book that has an exciting story line, and makes it a bit sour. This is not to take away how lip smacking the historical sequences are, but to point out that the plot seems fiction driven rather than history. This brings the question of whether or not the book is realistic? Now, this also is driven by the stone. If the stone turns out to have some voodoo like powers than no this is not realistic, but if it plays out that it just another useless rock then yes it would be realistic. In my opinion the book accurately describes the historical events, attitudes, and actions of the World War II period. As with Werner, a young boy of his age living in Nazi Germany would absolutely find the Youth program to be exactly where he needed to be. Before all of the bloodshed and deaths piled up the Nazi's agenda was to restore Germany back to its former glory. What is better as a kid than to feel like you are making a difference for your country. Most children and young adults during this era were in the same position as Werner, not the slightest idea they were helping monsters. Furthering that notion of children during the era, as time went on and they realized what was happening they questioned whether or not it was truly acceptable. Werner hints at this with the persecution of Frederick and the killing of the Jew via frozen water. This can be highlighted by his thoughts about the murder, " the cheers lose their gusto and a pure longing to flee floods Werner. Run. Run." (pg. 228) In addition throughout pages 150 to 260 there have been numerous points where Werner shows his initial approval of all the activities is being dismayed. On page 227 this new found "dread has been blooming inside Werner's chest...writing letters to Jutta...everything is fine." He realizes everything is not quite fine, he just does not understand how to contend with it yet. Not fact driven, but by myself being a teenager I would also probably not have been able to see good and bad at first with the Nazis.
Once again I must say goodbye. Until next time my dear readers.
Will, I really enjoyed reading about your views on Doerr's writing style. Your paragraph on the importance of his use of the third person omniscient narrator really gave me a different perspective on it, and I liked your reference to the concept of a single-story. I also mentioned the nonfactual outlier that is the Sea of Flames, however I found it to be quite out of place in the mostly historically accurate book. I also shared your interest in Doerr's decision to jump points of view from character to character. Do you think that at any point the varied viewpoints will become one, and the characters will meet?
ReplyDeleteI completely understand and second your thought that the Sea of Flames is out of place within the novel. Onto your question, I do not think that the varied viewpoints will meld together because it takes away from the separate emotions and attitudes. If the author were to combine the two viewpoints the story would lose the contrast between the two characters. I think the characters will meet but the chapters and viewpoints will stay separate to give the reader two different flavors to taste. I absolutely think the characters will meet, why go to such lengths to give backgrounds on both it seems inevitable.
Delete"Juicy Tangents: A Memoir."
ReplyDeleteYou make some good points here. But it's hard to believe that this book is more science fiction than historical fiction. What exactly do you mean by that? You make a compelling case for the presence of devices commonly used in science fiction, but are you basing your claim on the fact that there isn't much discussion of real historic events?
You also make a good point about the narration being third person omniscient consistently even as the subject of that narration changes. I wonder what Doerr's thinking was in not electing to have Werner and Marie-Laure tell their own stories.
Sir William, though I am not familiar with the plot nor the characters of your novel, I am familiar with a "unique style" of writing. I completely agree with you on how different a story can be told with a fresh literary style, it does make it more exciting. I truly envy your third person omniscient narrator that bounces between characters, allowing for full character development. The role of characters in our novels play vastly different roles which is interesting to observe. Take a peek at my first blog post to see what I'm talking about.
ReplyDeleteI can see from reading your first blog that indeed characters within our stories play vastly different roles. In my novel the characters are firstly given names, but also it seems our characters are described in a lot more depth. I find the character shift in my story to make the novel much more appealing as it caters to almost all readers. Your novel on the other hand has one plot line, one mood, and really only serves to one reader. Although that is not always a bad thing I find it a interesting contrast.
DeleteCertainly the Sea of Flames, and the desire of characters for it, moves us, as readers, out of the more historical aspects of the novel. What I'd challenge you to do is to consider the links in has to the historical time period, the motives of individuals, etc. In many ways this element of the story is similar to the magical realism of Morrison that we saw in "Song of Solomon." It's there for a reason, so we have to figure out why, or at least think about it.
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